Uses of a Machine Shop and Equipment

[GeeTwo]

Find mentors who know how to use the equipment - they'll also know what it can and can't be used for. The first place to look for mentors is right there at the machine shop - who runs the shop? Who uses it already? See if you can arrange some classes in using the equipment.

At an abstract level, with this sort of equipment and the knowledge of how to use it, you should be able to build components and subsystems and systems that fit together in clean, robust, and lightweight fashion. For many teams (my own included), match drilling pieces is sometimes the highest precision we can achieve.

Your biggest problem with all this equipment is likely to be the desire to use it just because you can - spending dozens or hundreds of hours on an item that's not significantly better than a COTS item.